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Monday, October 22, 2012

FUNGUS FORAY 13.10.12

Wade Wood, the Luddenden Brook

Unidentified, marble-sized

Laccaria amethystina, Amethyst Deceiver.

"Deceiver" because it's in a tricky group. Said to be edible but I've not eaten it.

A very scalloped form of Birch Polypore, maybe a different species. Inedible but found in the pack carried by 5,300 year-old ice mummy named "Otzi" found in 1991 in the European Alps. May have been valued as an anti-biotic, or can be used to sharpen blades. Also known as Razorstrop Fungus.

Upper and lower surfaces of Artist's Bracket. Ganoderma applanatum. The white undersurface scratches to create a dark brown line - said to have been used for sketching purposes.

Tree Ear or Jelly Ear, Auricularia auricula-judae. Used to be said to be confined to Elder, but on finding it on several different species of tree and talking with Professor Roy Watling, he informed me it is under review and may be split into different species. Edible - I was first served it in a Thai restuarant in France. I once ate too much of it at home and got a very uncomfortable bloated feeling in my stomach.

A small species of Ink Cap, Coprinus.

Common Ink Cap has been used to treat alcoholism.

With many thanks to Linda for all these photos and several others.

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FOLLOW - UP FORAY TO STOODLEY GLEN

There will be a follow-up to the Wildside Fungus Foray (above).

It will be on Saturday 27th October. Meet 10.30 for a 10.45 start. Bring packed lunch.

Meet at Eastwood Cricket Club on the main A646 road between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden.
Parking is OK on the main road overlooking the cricket ground, but take care - it's a 40 limit and some drivers speed a lot faster than that. SD965252

It is served by buses, such as the Todmorden and Burnley services.

Meet at the junction - marked "Stoodley Glen". We will be taking the track up Stoodley Glen.
If the weather is good we might go over the top and down into the valley bottom at Mytholmroyd, where a bus can take us back along the main road to the cars. People can retrace their steps if they want to leave early.

At the top of the wooded glen, the path goes through classic unimproved grassland with a good selection of grassland fungi including, last year, pink waxcap and hare's ear. I have occasionally seen actual hares up there, and there are some of the few local wild crabapple trees. It will be interesting to see if they have suffered from the cold spring like the garden apples and crabapples.

There are, interestingly enough, crabapples just over the watershed in Broadhead Clough, though these are not possible to get to, as Yorkshire Wildlife Trust requests we stay on the footpaths in the reserve.

It's a puzzle why these relict trees don't regenerate any longer. I have my theory it's because there are no longer any wild mammals that would eat the fruit and deposit their seeds with their dung on soil where the turf was broken through by their piggy hoofs/ bears paws. Of course sheep nibble off seedlings as well.

These are the eggs from which the Stinkhorn arises. If you were to put them in a large jar-say a sweet jar with wet tissue in the bottom they would probably turn into a fully erect stinkhorn in around 12-24 hours. Make sure there is a strong top on the jar?/ these were in Longwood ,Calderdale today.

This weather is a mycologists delight-hot are humid ideal conditions for fungal generation- Keep your eyes peeled for unusual fungi in the next few daysThanks for the post Michael

Laeitiporus sulphureous

Chicken of the Woods in Longwood this a.m.This weather should be wonderful for fungi though there were very few in Longwood. I think you would need very strong teeth for this chicken which was about 20 feet up the tree.MichaelThanks for the post Michael

This mushroom is often called the "fairy ring mushroom", since it frequently fruits in rings on lawns, in meadows, and in other grassy places, although other species such as Chlorophyllum molybdites, (which is poisonous and unlikely to be encountered in the UK) and Agaricus campestris, (field mushroom) can also form rings.

Coprinus micaneus

Lycogala epidendrum - an early recordof this slime mould.

Sarcoscypha austriaca -usually gone by February.

Mike Sykes joined us for a short time on one of the Calderdale Wildside walks at Ripponden today. There were 14 of us. On his way back he found several fungi and a slime mould. Also the party saw some of the native daffodils near Rishworth and the very reliable Little Owl on Cliff Lane.

Auricularia auricula-judae

Ogden in March. Temperature 19c

Mike sent these pictures of Bog beacon - a small, no more than 5cm tall - fungi found in shady, damp places from March onwards.

Clavaria zollingeri, Commonly known as the violet coral or the magenta coral.This specimen was found by Michael Sykes a couple of years ago. It is rare in the Uk and usually only found in the south. it appears occasionally in the Blackshaw Head area of Calderdale.